Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach give new, old-fashioned life to the Fantastic Four.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps review: Pedro Pascal leads the team back to the retro-future in colorful new version

Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach give new, old-fashioned life to the Fantastic Four.

By Maureen Lee Lenker

Maureen Lee Lenker

Maureen Lee Lenker is a senior writer at ** with over seven years of experience in the entertainment industry. An award-winning journalist, she's written for Turner Classic Movies, *Ms. Magazine*, *The Hollywood Reporter*, and more. She's worked at EW for six years covering film, TV, theater, music, and books. The author of EW's quarterly romance review column, "Hot Stuff," Maureen holds Master's degrees from both the University of Southern California and the University of Oxford. Her debut novel, *It Happened One Fight*, is now available. Follow her for all things related to classic Hollywood, musicals, the romance genre, and Bruce Springsteen.

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Published on July 22, 2025 12:00PM EDT

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Courtesy of 20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios

They say the third time’s the charm, and when it comes to the Fantastic Four, that just might be true.

The Marvel comic book characters, comprised of Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/The Human Torch (Joseph Quinn), and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) have struggled to find their footing in the cinematic superhero pantheon. But *The Fantastic Four: First Steps, *out Friday,* *is the most promising step in the right direction yet.

Working from a script by Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, and Ian Springer (if the screenplay feels a bit cobbled together, which it does, it’s almost certainly because of the number of cooks in the proverbial kitchen), director Matt Shakman (*WandaVision*) sets this version of the Fantastic Four in an retro-futuristic world that feels like *The Jetsons *and *Mad Men *had a love child.

Joseph Quinn, Vanessa Kirby, and Pedro Pascal in 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps'.

Jay Maidment/© MARVEL 2025

Its setting is *Fantastic Four’s *secret weapon, making the otherwise ridiculous stretching abilities of Reed Richards, the radioactive gentle giant that is the Thing, the den mother vibes of Sue Storm, and the cocky womanizing wiles of Johnny Storm into something quaint and retro cool. The film is at its best when it’s leaning into its space race sense of wonder, mid-century modern trappings, and the charming novelty of its retro-futurist technology. From its Saul Bass-inspired opening credits to its callbacks to Saturday morning superhero cartoons, it practically vibrates with its sense of time and place.

Welcome to the (retro)future: Inside the Fantastic Four's 'first steps' into the MCU

Ebon Moss-Bachrach used the Thing’s catchphrase while filming ‘Fantastic Four’

Production designer Kasra Farahani and costume designer Alexandra Bryne enhance Shakman’s vision, painting this world in Betty Crocker reds and whites, mod-ish burnt oranges, and bouyant blues. They build a world that is old-fashioned and familiar, whimsical even, while infusing everything with a streak of technological advancement and innovation.

Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, and Joseph Quinn in 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps'.

Jay Maidment/© MARVEL 2025

In this version of the quartet’s story, set on Earth 828, the Four have been heroes for four years, having acquired their cosmic superpowers during an accident on a mission to space (this multiverse’s version of the Apollo project). Sue and Reed are long married, secure in their respective roles as a diplomat and a popular scientist. They live with Sue’s brother, Johnny, who seems unfazed by his ability to turn into a campfire in the blink of an eye, and Reed’s best friend, Ben Grimm, who has been transformed into the craggy Thing.

Under the watchful eye of their robot butler Herbie (voiced by Matthew Wood), they’re a family. But when Sue and Reed discover they’re expecting a longed-for baby, it casts their bonds and their responsibilities to the people of the world in a new light. That is further complicated by the arrival of extra-terrestrial herald, the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner), who proclaims the coming of Galactus (Ralph Ineson), devourer of planets.

Julia Garner as Silver Surfer in 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps'.

20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios

Despite Sue’s advanced pregnancy (and her chic maternity uniform), the quartet resolves to return to space to defeat Galactus before he ever reaches Earth. But this Big Bad is the Rumplestiltskin of supervillains, demanding the one thing Reed and Sue cannot bear to give — their child.

From there, we’re plunged into a parable of what it means to be a savior — and the weight of the expectation to sacrifice the happiness of a few for the lives of the many. It’s a murky ethical dilemma, one that pits the sanctity of the family unit against the survival of the world. Yet, the film also recognizes that to give up one is to lose the other. As Sue Storm tells their detractors, “family is about connecting to someone bigger than ourselves.”

Herbie and the Thing in 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps'.

Marvel Entertainment/Youtube

In a time when so many of us feel desperate for community and connection, this is a compelling narrative focus. Particularly because this cosmic crew doesn’t look at all like the traditional nuclear family of the 1960s, no matter how many crisp white shirts Pascal wears. However, this points to the film’s central, if unintentional, tension between its reinforcement of traditional values and its progressive push for a kinder, unified world. This narrative dissonance is amplified by the film’s continuation of Marvel’s female problems, using its two main female characters as sacrificial lambs. It’s an endlessly exhausting trope that Marvel can’t seem to stop perpetuating.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has long excelled in its casting, and *The Fantastic Four: First Steps *is no exception. Pascal at last gets a superb filmic vehicle for his charms, one that allows him to exude both his classic movie star swagger and his more modern sensitivity, which simmers beneath the surface every moment he’s on screen. Kirby lends Sue an ethereal sensibility, which speaks to the paradox of her heroism and her maternal role in the storytelling (she gives new meaning to the notion that a mother could lift a car to save her child).

Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm in 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps'.

20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios

Quinn brings Steve McQueen cool to Johnny Storm, making him more the epitome of mid-century aloof masculinity than a cocky man-child, while Moss-Bachrach imbues Ben Grimm with the greatest humanity of the four, despite his igneous exterior.

All four performers capture something quintessential to the 1960s vibe — a sense that they are of a piece with this world and products of their time. Too often, casting directors opt for actors who have resting cellphone face, but Sarah Finn, who has assembled every member of the Avengers, has a knack for getting this crucial detail right. From Peggy Carter to Sue Storm, Finn has consistently found old souls to embody new stories.

Pedro Pascal in 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps'.

20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios

*The Fantastic Four: First Steps *is perhaps Marvel's biggest swing since*Thor, *in terms of its willingness to embrace the more ludicrous and wacky elements of its comic book origins. Is moving from teleporting an egg to teleporting an entire planet preposterous? Yes. But it's also utterly true to the logic of comic book lore. *The Fantastic Four *wholeheartedly waves its freak flag with characters like the Mole Man (Paul Walter Hauser) and his realm of Subterrenea.

The visual effects department nails the powers of the quartet, rendering Mr. Fantastic's elasticity and Johnny Storm's ability to "flame on" in ways that are both believable and fun, eschewing some of the hokier pitfalls of earlier adaptations.

Joseph Quinn in 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps'.

20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios

**Though the entire film goes for broke, some scenes are more successful than others, with Kirby in particular asked to swing for the fences. If you thought her birth scene in *Pieces of a Woman *was harrowing, *Fantastic Four *gives it a run for its money in a far more ridiculous context as Sue Storm must bellow through labor pains while the Four hurtle through space and try to evade the Silver Surfer. Kirby commits like a champ, but the scene is inherently absurd, as Reed tries to talk her through a birth in zero gravity. It's more silly than serious, but damn if Pascal and Kirby don't sell it for all it's worth.

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Michael Giacchino's whimsical score is the cherry on top of this comic book sundae. It's a bit of a full-circle moment, as Giacchino gained early recognition for composing the score for Pixar's *The Incredibles, *a film that drew pointedly from the superpowers and '60s trappings of the original *Fantastic Four *comics. That twinkling 1960s sound gets repurposed here and given extra oomph with more solemn, sweeping melodies.

Pedro Pascal in 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps'.

Jay Maidment/© MARVEL 2025

Indeed, this iteration of *The Fantastic Four *shares more with *The Incredibles *than it does *Avengers: Endgame *or **Thunderbolts, *feeling almost like a live-action adaptation of Pixar's animated homage to superheroes.

Much like the other biggest superhero movie of the summer, *Superman, The Fantastic Four: First Steps *isn't interested in apologizing for or trying to hide its source material. Instead, it throws audiences into its pop candy world, exploding with color, goofy adversaries, and throwback costumes. Because it knows that comic book stories are akin to myth in our world, a cinematic answer to Greek oral storytelling traditions. These movies are money-making blockbusters, but they are also a prism through which we collectively navigate morality, heroism, and our values — and sometimes the only way to do that is to get a little ridiculous, even if the end result isn't entirely fantastic. **Grade: B**

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